Edwin Stanton

Edwin McMasters Stanton (19 December 1814-24 December 1869) was the US Attorney General from 20 December 1860 to 4 March 1861 (succeeding Jeremiah S. Black and preceding Edward Bates) and Secretary of War from 20 January 1862 to 12 August 1867 (succeeding Simon Cameron and preceding Ulysses S. Grant) and from 14 January to 28 May 1868 (succeeding Grant and preceding John Schofield). President Andrew Johnson's attempt to dismiss Stanton ultimately led to Johnson being impeached by the Radical Republicans.

Biography
Edwin McMasters Stanton was born in Steubenville, Ohio in 1814, and he became a lawyer in Cadiz, Ohio in 1835. In 1837, he became the Harrison County prosecutor, and, after his law partner Benjamin Tappan was elected to the US Senate, Stanton was entrusted with his law business. He was a supporter of Democratic nominee Martin Van Buren's 1840 re-election campaign, and Stanton expanded his practice to Virginia and Pennsylvania, becoming a lawyer in Pittsburgh in 1847. He became a prominent lawyer in Washington DC as well, famously defending Daniel Sickles in 1859 following Sickles' murder of Francis Scott Key's son Philip Barton Key for having an affair with his wife. In 1860, when President James Buchanan had Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black replace Secretary of State Lewis Cass, Buchanan appointed Stanton to serve as his new Attorney General. He served until March 1861, and he joined Abraham Lincoln's cabinet as his Secretary of War in 1862 after Simon Cameron's resignation. He helped organize the massive military resources of the north and guide the Union to victory in the American Civil War, although he was criticized by many generals for his over-cautiousness and micromanagement. He organized the manhunt for Lincoln's killer John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and he remained Secretary of War under President Andrew Johnson. He opposed Johnson's leniency towards the southern states during Reconstruction, and Johnson's attempt to dismiss Stanton led to Johnson being impeached by the Radical Republicans in the US House of Representatives. Stanton returned to law after retiring as Secretary of State, and in 1869 he was nominated as an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court by President Ulysses S. Grant. However, he died four days after his appointment was confirmed.